When the Financial Times asked nearly 100 economists about the UK economy in the year ahead, their responses were mixed – uninspiring even.
There will be growth, albeit fuelled by higher Government and some consumer spending, and the UK will perform better than other European countries where political instability threatens to destabilise their economies.
Meanwhile, UK households will not feel much better off, wage growth will be slow, and businesses are likely to pass on the impact of tax increases. Inflation will remain above 2% making Bank of England interest rate cuts unlikely.
That’s not a VERY joyful outlook …
OK …
How about a more positive IT Project Management perspective?
GREEN SHOOTS OF GROWTH
Happily, we are seeing some green shoots of growth!
Firstly, at Stoneseed, we’ve noticed an increase in enquiries about our IT Project Management as a Service offer, including Project Management Office (PMO) resources and Business Analysis as a Service, with prospective clients citing flexibility, scalability and upcoming employer National Insurance increases among their reasons for checking us out (PMaaS talent is employed by Stoneseed so let us worry about those NICs!).
Secondly, I asked IT Project Management industry colleagues, clients and contacts if it is just us – it isn’t! It feels like a wider trend, in some cases, it is IT Project teams who are leading new business growth! Rather than IT project teams reacting to improving business confidence – we are driving it!
This feels like a real shift!
Thinking back to every historic recession or period of economic stagnation, it’s taken a boost in business confidence to be the catalyst for everything else, including IT projects to kick back into gear. The thing is, then we were a business support function, now IT is the business and IT project management talent is the catalyst, driving business confidence with tech-led solutions and thinking.
Five areas of growth were mentioned time and again:
FIVE IT PROJECT MANAGEMENT GREEN SHOOTS OF GROWTH
1 – The “Digital Transformation” Green Shoots
Digital transformation is increasingly crucial for businesses to stay competitive. To meet ever evolving market needs and customer expectations firms are leveraging digital technologies to improve their processes, improve customer experiences, and drive innovation.
IT Project managers, of course, are perfectly placed for digital transformation and their natural skill sets (change management, digital strategic thinking, tech implementation, stakeholder engagement, etc) could not be more suited.
Digital transformation trends are emerging early in 2025, including the implementation of AI and cloud computing, and businesses that are seeing green shoots seem to be concentrating on customer-focussed approaches and leaning into data analytics to improve decision-making and drive innovation.
Data is king! In fact …
2 – The “Data Driven” Green Shoots
In his blog for projectmanagement.com, titled “What I see for Project Managers in 2025”, William Meller writes:
“In 2025, project managers won’t just need to track data—they’ll need to use it to make better decisions. Tools are getting smarter, showing you real-time dashboards with progress, risks, and resources. But the tool won’t do the thinking for you. Ask yourself:
• Are we tracking the right numbers?
• What’s the story behind the data?
• How can this help the team improve?
Data is helpful, but your judgment will still make the biggest difference.”
I think Will has nailed it, project managers are getting “better at data” using platforms like Stoneseed’s P3MO to lift the bonnet on their projects, access the right numbers and be better connected to business need.
And … It’s not just project managers!
This year already, I’m seeing organisations harnessing their business, market and industry data like never before to inform decision-making, drive innovation and create blue sky between them and their competitors. The best in class at this all have one thing in common – they have at least one Business Analyst on their team!
Increasingly, Business Analysts are not viewed as a luxury to help maximise margins in the good times, the companies I’m seeing pushing up green shoots are treating BAs as a necessity for navigating these leaner times in preparation, and they are identifying extra revenue.
Adding a BA to your headcount might not be top of your priority list right now, thanks to Business Analysis as a Service (BAaaS) you can access BA skills without the costs of hiring new staff.
3 – The “Migration From Legacy To Emerging Tech” Green Shoots
Writing for LinkedIn, Lauren Klaus observes: “CIOs who can successfully bridge the gap between technological potential and business value will emerge as true strategic partners in their organisations. The key lies in fostering cross-functional collaboration, prioritising enterprise-wide digital skills development, and aligning technological investments with core business objectives.”
Lauren says over 80% of CIOs plan to increase investments in cybersecurity, generative AI, data analytics, and integration technologies/APIs, meanwhile almost half (43%) plan to cut spending on legacy infrastructure and on-premises data centres.
A shift like this necessitates meticulous planning and the kind of change management acumen that your IT Project talent have in abundance.
Maintaining business continuity and at the same time driving innovation can be a tricky tightrope to walk along, and the CIOs who are aligning the potential of emerging tech with their organisation’s needs and creating new business value are finding that their stock is rising!
4 – The “Strategy Aligned” Green Shoots
More and more strategic decision makers are elevating the perceived value of their IT Project Management talent, affording them greater influence in the decision-making process.
Gone are the days of IT projects being measured just on cost-vs-budget or the proximity of their actual delivery to the forecast delivery date – the strategic business value of an IT Project is more scrutinised that ever and over time this has afforded project managers the chance to get involved earlier in the decision-making process.
Where this happens, project managers understand how each project fits into the company’s strategy and they become adept at explaining business value to stakeholders. Over time, this process has evolved and it’s a small step from being able to demonstrate the business value of your current IT Project, to identifying needs and make the business case for the IT Project you’d love to deliver.
Anecdotally, but repeatedly, I hear of transformed decision-making timelines. Project managers like Steve are sharing news of projects that are getting green-lit faster than ever. Steve told me, “Even just five years ago, the business brains would identify what they wanted to achieve in the following year around October or November, then we’d have some time to put together plans and pitch tech ideas to deliver these goals, there’d be some negotiation and costing and successful projects would get the go-ahead ready for the start of the new financial year in April. That was six months lost! We got good at articulating the business value of our projects and slowly found our input was being sought earlier. Being closer to strategic thinking, you get an insight into what the business needs and being naturally up to date with the latest tech solutions you can marry these, often before the business itself even realises it has a need! We’re starting IT projects in January this year based on challenges we flagged in the last quarter of last year because we went to the board not only the challenge, but with a fully costed and ready-to-roll solution and timescale.”
The lesson is: Bring your IT Project talent into the decision-making process sooner!
5 – The “Literal, Actual GREEN” Green Shoots
Sustainability in IT is vital in minimising the environmental footprint of the technology that we all increasingly rely upon. From strategies like implementing energy-efficient computing, to sourcing materials sustainably, migration to greener tech remains a high priority for many firms and organisations.
Many IT project managers are well-versed in green technologies, sustainability standards, and regulatory frameworks and their traditional skills like stakeholder collaboration, and driving organisational change are essential – not to mention their expertise in IT project management!
Emerging green trends include energy-efficient data centres, moves toward renewable energy sources, switching to more efficient hardware, and refining the use of existing hardware for efficiency.
Technology decision-makers are driving this, according to Foundry’s recent Customer Engagement Survey, understanding a company’s sustainability approach is now an important factor in vendor selection.
As Gartner said back in September 2024, “Green IT is a complex domain where technologies and requirements are evolving rapidly” … but the progress is promising. There is a growing awareness of green solutions and stronger commitments to sustainability across the IT sector, and this is delivering some lovely green shoots for IT Project teams to work on.
CONCLUSION
These five growth areas are by no means an exhaustive list – you may have identified areas where IT Project led growth is starting to emerge too. I hope so, and I’d love to hear from you if you have – how nice would it be to be able to do a positive blog like this EVERY MONTH!?
From IT Project Managers to CIOs to Business Analysts, the talent we work with is driving business growth and innovation in ways that, even just a decade ago, might have felt fanciful.
At Stoneseed we’re ready to support you and your business with IT Project led initiatives and resources, from advisory to delivery, we’re with you every step of the way.
I bet the FT wishes it had asked us now!
More about Project Management as a Service from Stoneseed
SOURCES AND INSPIRATION
linkedin.com pulse/navigating-future-7-key-technology-challenges-cios-2025
projectmanagement.com/blog-post/77682/what-i-see-for-project-managers-in-2025
gartner.com/en/articles/green-computing
Foundryco.com/tools-for-marketers/research-customer-engagement/
ft.com/content/2a53391c-2db3-413f-a5ee-2add76fd0966